Home made Horizontal bandsaw for under $70

[aaxiss]

Ok If their is any interest I can take some pictures and let you figure it out from there as I made no drawings and did this right when I started welding again after like 20 or so years off, maybe 3 years ago.

what I did was make a pivot arm for a Harbor Freight hand held portable band saw. The cost of the band saw on sale and with a 20% off coupon was about $59 and I figure another $10 in material.

Materials were all scrap from other projects. some 3/16 as a base to bolt to work table, 2 small 1/2 plate rems about 5x5", a piece of 10" long 1/2x1" bar and a 4" piece of angle iron.

If there is any interest in seeing pictures or a video of it in action I will post up some pictures and a video like to youtube ( I'll have to shoot the video)

I figure like a lot of you my budget had no room in it for a big horizontal band saw and I hate how long and loud a chop saw takes to go though 2" .250 wall square tube or anything up to 4" ( the opening of the saw ). with a good 10-14 bi-metal blade this thing makes short work of .250 wall tubing or anything up to 4"x4" and that could be solid .

The blades I bought were also from HF but were amreican made. Morse Bimetal 3 blades for $19 but starret and other good blade companies make bimetal blades for this saw because Milwaukee and other make a similar saw with the same blade size Except the others cost about $300 or more.

the cuts are dead straight too ( god only knows why ) as I figured I just wanted to get the cuts fairly close but the cut end of square tube will stand up dead straight on a flat surface with a square on 2 90 deg apart sides.

Its ugly as hell but works great and only takes about a couple hours and cuts about 10 times faster than a chop saw without all the noise and sparks & mess. any interest let me know.

[ducksface]

Those things are $200+ on ebay. the vertical one is $72 plus shipping.

Post pics.

You can order just the swing arm on ebay for about $53.

[jakeru]

I am totally interested. Post pics and details!

Although I just bought a bandsaw, its a bit of a "basket case" so I can use all the info on them I can get. Also, I'd like to see how you make one custom!

I feel like I got a deal on the one I got, its a vintage "craftsman industrial" (made by atlas / clausing) horizontal 3x6 I bought for $40. I've already sunk about $30 of additional in parts into it and am not done yet. But it has neat features... a hydraulic cylinder, pretty decent construction. A real nice homemade stand. Nice, lightning-quick starting 1/2 hp motor. Maybe I will start a thread on its restoration and review myself if there is much interest!

So far I already have it up and running, and really like the utility of these horizontal metal cutting bandsaws. So much quicker and more accurate than hacksawing... By the way, I put a 24 tooth per inch high-carbon blade, and am finding I can cut things thinner than I ever could with a hacksaw... I'm talking thin (and fragile), .020" thick aluminum extrusions stood up on end, cut sideways through the wall, without causing any wall distortion.

[ducksface]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Milwaukee-48-08-...item5adfb3d4a0

http://cgi.ebay.com/Stout-ST-CS250-p...item19c515333d

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Does anyone here have a STOUT brand portasaw? I'm willing to buy one just to get the table saw attachment.

[aaxiss]

I'm going to be laid-up for a while unfortunatly but will get my Dad to get a few pics, I'm pretty depressed right now, just discovered I have a pressure sore under my left hip on my left buttock which means about 6 wks of mostly in bed. guess I been up in my wheelchair too much lately.

But basically what I did is make a pivoting arm for the band saw that allows me to cut heavy steel with little effort, noise or mess. I will get the pictures up asap for ya and possibly I can get my dad to make some cuts on some material for a video also.

This is basically my life... just when things get going on an up note for me I get a sore or some thing happens to put me in the hospital or out of commission for a month or 2 .

[jakeru]

Definitely take care of yourself, and keep your chin up. The metal can wait.

[woodchuck]

All the best Don.


Chuck

[aaxiss]

I'm going over to my Mom's today after my Dr visit , will get some pictures while there for ya guys . Possibly some video too. I just have to limit my sitting time and try to keep most of the pressure on my other hip.

The sore is not very big 1cm x 2 cm it could easily get infected and much larger very easily so I gotta take it easy.

[vfrguy]

Not sure what your condition/history is but my son is a T4 Para and I definitely can relate to the pressure wound issue. Check out Ride Designs seating products. It eliminated our issues and he was even able to be in his chair while healing his last one.

Hang in there.

Darren

[aaxiss]

I also am a T-4 para , nothing from about my high sternum down and I also have a brachial sp? plexus injury to my left shoulder resulting in extreme weakness ( I can barely transfer on my own) I have been plagued with sore due to the inability to pressure release and medicare turned me down on a tilting chair 2x now , that would allow me to tilt back and take the pressure off my back side but here I am again. I will look into the Ride designs cushions and talk with my DR about them. Thanks for the info.

Here are the pictures I was able to get today. might be the last for a while. some of the welds were make with Old rod that I think is bad or has a lot of moisture in it I got some new stuff at the local hardware store and the welds were alt better on some parts. weld quality for me all depends on weather I can reach the part and how far I have to lean to one side to make the weld ... crappy old rod doesn't help either hehe

Band saw cost $59 with coupon and basically the rest of the bits less than another $20 . cuts almost perfectly straight ( better than I can do by hand ) and can convert back to hand held in 2 mins . you need a bolt and washers and 2 3/4 od x 1/2 id flanged bronze bushings and just tighten down to get the correct friction between the two 1/2 pivot/friction plates. I left one of the bushings it's standard length and it protruded into the second plate about 1/8 and cut the other down to make up the difference so the 2 didn't bottom out on each other. The picture of the material being cut is 3/16 flat bar but I also cut some 5/8 x 4" with little problem either. the blade I am using is from harbor freight also, Morse 10-14 bimetal ( ok the price goes up with those) but just about any saw only comes with a basic wood cutting blade so that is a gimme IMO
hope this helps. BTW this thing cuts 2x2" .250 wall square tubing in about 30 seconds with no sparks, only about 1/5 the noise and almost perfectly square. I can stand the cut end up and put a square to the sides 45 apart and no gap. just make sure when you build it the blade is 90 to the work and you cut straight on your line. My block that the blade falls into determines where my cut angle will be but I always scribe my pieces and line up the blade by sight unless they are longer than 45 inches then I have a rest that helps align the piece straight to the blade in which case I only have to make sure the mark is on the forward part of the piece being cut and touch the blade to that mark then lock down the piece and cut. I can duplicate long pieces down to a couple 64ths of an inch and only reason they may be off is my mark not the saw . the pivot is built strong enough that I get no side play at all .

Hope this will help some of you other low budget guys in the future . BTW the top of the saw where the mount bolts on is 45 to the blade and the pivot arm. so that makes that part pretty easy. I'm no pro fabricator and just made something that I needed to suit my needs it's not a work of art but it's very functional and cuts straight enough for my standards and I didn't have to buy a $325 Milwaukee saw and $225 base.



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[jakeru]

Nice - I can see a lot going for it! Doesn't take up much space. Inexpensive. Looks like it works pretty well (much better I'd imagine than holding the portable in your hands, or using a hacksaw.)

I was wondering if there are any issues with the design of the blade traveling away from the pivot point instead of towards it, however? It seems like on tall workpieces, the saw blade would tend to pull the work upwards off the table because of blade angle / direction of blade travel. Also, it seems like since the fence is moving with the saw arm, it would not be useful for a part clamped down on a table. Since the fence would move relative to the workpiece. I wonder if there would be much value in moving the fence off the portable saw arm, down onto the table.

Main value I'd have with a setup like this (in my limited space shop) is how little space it takes compared to a traditional 4x6 horizontal bandsaw setup. I'm envisioning something with a light enough frame (perhaps constructed out of rigid&lightweight aluminum tubing instead of steel for the frame...) so that it could easily be lifted up onto a shelf for storage when not in use. Plus, you gotta love how inexpensively bimetal portable bandsaw blades can be purchased for!

It seems like these portable bandsaws have pretty decent cutting size capacity (width x height), too.

[aaxiss]

About the fence/stop issue on the saw, Believe it or not I am getting straighter cuts with the saw pulling the work to it's own fence. Also I have cut (so far the biggest) 3.5 channel with 2.5 legs and had no issue with that either. it does take longer to go through thick flat bar because you can't rock the saw so on like the 5/8 x 4" flat bar I did the other day it took about 1.5 mins or so but try that with a chop saw and your talking 3-4 mins at least unless you have a huge 20" saw. I would love to have a cold saw or a jet horizontal band saw but space and budget limitations won't allow that to ever happen.

What I built is exactly what I needed and can be unbolted from the table in a manner of mins and put in a drawer. It may not be for everyone but it is perfect for me and may be perfect for someone else that isn't willing to drop $600 +- on the Milwaukee combo.

Even if I give someone an idea from my pictures and they create something different or better for them, than this post is worth the effort I put into posting it and the pictures . I get alot of help from many people in my daily activities and I am always trying to make their lives easier by making the things I do easier and myself more self-sufficient.

[ducksface]

There's a used factory Milwaukee one for sale on ebay. I bid $100 for the frame, it's going to sell for way more than that. I'll be building yours instead.